Gary Hart hooked up his computer and made the call using voice over IP from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

When it comes to technology, the Dover man, a traveling contractor for the U.S. Department of State, is no dinosaur.

But those who catch a glimpse of his cellular phone -- a popular device of the not-so-distant past -- act as though they've just seen an eight-track or a cassette tape.

"They make fun of me," said Hart, 53, from about 6,000 miles away. "They say, 'You're the only guy I know who still uses a BlackBerry.'"

While he isn't alone, Hart, who purchased his BlackBerry Bold two years ago, belongs to a class of cellphone users quickly slipping into extinction.

The executives and politicians who once clung to their BlackBerrys, tapping away at emails and massaging the track ball, have moved on to the app-rich pastures of iPhones and Androids.

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Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry family, reported a loss of $235 million for the second quarter, which ended in September, compared with a profit of $329 million for the year-ago quarter.

But Hart and his BlackBerry brethren across York County say they aren't ashamed. Their phones cost less.

They're simple to use.

They have keyboards with tangible keys, not a touch-sensitive sandwich of liquid crystal, glass and electrodes.

Tom Duffy, 35, of Springettsbury Township, is a loyal customer. When he bought his first BlackBerry eight years ago, iPhones didn't exist.

Seven months ago, he updated his phone plan and purchased his fifth BlackBerry, the Curve.

His wife bought an iPhone, but he just didn't care for it.

"Six years ago, they were known as 'Crackberrys' and they were the best thing since sliced bread," said Duffy, a salesman for Dent Wizard International. "They're still just as good. I don't need all the bells and whistles. I don't want to play Words with Friends."

Apple's iPhone 5 debuted Sept. 21 in the United States with a pre-order list of 2 million. Fans lined up at cellular stores to nab the hot new product.

About a year earlier, Russ LaBarca did the same for a BlackBerry -- his first one ever.

The 27-year-old Dover Township man, an engineer at Voith Hydro, ordered the BlackBerry Bold 9930 at 12:01 a.m. the day it was released.

Until that point, he owned an iPhone.

"I really, really like the keyboard. I made a few concessions when I bought it, in terms of apps, but there's really no looking back for me," LaBarca said.

"When my BlackBerry runs out of batteries, I can pop in a second battery," he added. "I can tell you the last time an iPhone user did that was never."

At least one local business is making a slow transition from BlackBerry to iPhone 4S.

York Wallcoverings still has about 33 BlackBerry users, down from 50 two years ago, said Roger Miller, network administrator for the York-based business that purchased its first iPhone two years ago.

"Our sales floor and executives are transitioning over to iPhones," he said. "It opens up a much wider ability for them. They can go right over to our website and run videos that they can't do with the BlackBerry as efficiently."

But some -- like Tiffany Wright -- still swear by the technology.

"I'm a dinosaur," said Wright, who loves her BlackBerry Curve. "What can I say?"

Though she knows the iPhone is a bit beyond her budget, she occasionally thinks the iPhone and its 4G coverage might be worth it.

"Video streaming is nonexistent," she said. "It doesn't bother me on a regular basis, but on occasion my 3-year-old is acting like a fool, and I want to do something to keep him occupied. But I can't."

The professor at Millersville University, a Springettsbury Township resident, has had BlackBerrys for four years. This latest one came free as an update with her AT&T plan.

"They're a little more hearty," she said. "You can drop them. I know so many people who have these cracked screens and they break. I'm sort of a clumsy person anyway."